Honda is initiating a new effort to harness the helpful spirit of community in responding to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort is led by an initial $1 million pledge to food banks and meal programs across the United States, Canada and Mexico and is intended to provide the most vulnerable with access to food.
The Honda family of companies throughout North America will donate to community organizations that address food insecurity. In addition to the pledge, the company also will implement a special matching gift program that enables Honda associates to make monetary donations to food programs in their local communities, matching up to $1,000 for each individual gift.
The pledge to address food insecurity is part of a broader effort Honda is undertaking to provide relief to communities, customers and dealers during this uncertain time. In addition, building on a longstanding tradition of community volunteerism, Honda associates also will be empowered to play a key part in a “virtual volunteer” campaign to help those most in need.
“We are focusing our societal response on three vital and immediate human needs,” said Rick Schostek, Executive Vice President of Honda North America, Inc. “We are addressing food insecurity at a time when many families are struggling, investigating the potential to use our manufacturing know-how to produce medical equipment to help those battling COVID-19, and deploying our associate ‘virtual volunteers,’ to help people in need.”
In addition to the $1 million dollar pledge to address food insecurity, Honda’s response includes a number of activities to support community and government efforts aimed at combatting the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Inventoried our stocks of Personal Protective Equipment at our North American facilities and have donated much of this equipment, including N95 face masks, to support frontline healthcare providers.
- Deploying our 3-D printers to manufacture visors for protective face shields that will be used by medical providers. And we continue investigating the ability to meet critical manufacturing needs related to medical equipment, including partnering with other companies.
- Engaging and empowering Honda associates throughout North America while at home, to serve as “virtual volunteers,” to help non-profits and people in need in their local communities while respecting the requirements of social distancing. This will include reaching out to many of its nonprofit partners to assess their needs and determine opportunities to support them with virtual tasks at a time when nonprofit resources are stretched.
- Offering payment extensions and deferrals, as well as late fee waivers for existing Honda and Acura finance customers impacted by the pandemic, and a 90-day deferred payment to qualified customers for new vehicle sales that are financed by Honda and Acura Financial Services.1/2
Additionally, Honda is launching a new marketing campaign with a focus on the power of community to help people get through these challenging times, and to emerge even stronger.
In the face of this rapidly changing situation, Honda continues to explore other ways to serve local communities across North America in the areas where our associates live and work.
